The Best Laid Plans of Witches and Dark Lords
by SunRiceClassic
Summary: Harry Potter is captured and taken to Malfoy Manor. Voldemort isn't very impressed with what his followers plans are to break him. That's when Bellatrix steps forward. She has a different plan. She intends to turn him.


AN: This is a story about Harry & Daphne meeting under rather special circumstances, they're both prisoners of sorts at Malfoy Manor. There won't be much action in this story to begin with and the pacing will probably be quite slow as I've only got a vague idea on how this story is going to unfold at the moment. A warning for adult themes and situations is probably appropriate too.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter nor is any profit being made from this piece of Fanfiction. It all belongs to the lovely J.K Rowling.**  
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**Chapter 1 - The Plan**

Bellatrix had listened to all of their various plans and found them all wanting. Clearly they didn't understand the boy at all, but she did. She had killed his Godfather after all, felt his first attempt at a Crucio, seen him inflict pain unto the Dark Lord.

They were all fools. But the Dark Lord wasn't, he would understand why they wouldn't be able to beat him. The boy would never give in to such... primitive methods. He would know that if there was a chance of using the boy... perhaps even turning him, or at the very least neutralizing him... it had to be taken.

Would it matter if he was killed instantly? Or if he was broken instantly? Not to him, he had patience. Bellatrix knew he had patience, and therefore he would prefer her plan. It would give him time to focus on other matters, their takeover of the Ministry was under way and soon the British isles would be under his command. With the boy in their control... any resistance was futile.

Finally, they had stopped bragging about how they were to break him, destroy him. Finally she had her Masters attention out of all others in the room.

"Bella... you have been rather quiet... what are you up to?" he practically whispered from across the room.

She knew that look, the Dark Lord was curious. Excellent.

"You are fools if you intend to break him with mere torture. Using his friends may work, but I think we all know that the boy is quite... stubborn." she said to the others in the room before kneeling at her Masters feet.

All the other Death Eaters remained silent, even if she could tell that they wanted nothing more than to speak against her... but in their Masters presence, such insolence was not allowed.

"Quite, and what would you do if the task was given to you Bella?" her Master practically hissed in her ear.

"I would turn him my Lord."

Instantly she felt his change in posture. He was truly listening to her now and she loved the feeling. The Dark Lord and his most loyal servant, his favorite follower...

"It is quite simple my Lord, you must give him a reason to stay of his own free will. A reason to not run away. Give him something to live for, with us."

The Dark Lord chuckled to himself.

"Very good Bella... and what could possibly be powerful enough to tempt Potter into staying here, with the people he hates above all?"

"You give him back something that was recently taken from him, something he longs for above all else... you give him a family my Lord."

The silence lasted several minutes. Bellatrix was almost high on the anticipation, he would agree with her, he would let her perform this most important task. And when she succeeded... he would reward her above all the other Death Eaters. She would be his favorite forever.

"Bella, you never cease to amaze me... that devious little mind of yours, I am... glad to see that at least one of my followers is still useful to me. Do it."

"Yes, my Lord." she said after kissing the hem of his robes, bowing and leaving the room.

In the hallway a few of the others had waited, eager for the news of who was to break the boy. Bellatrix was truly going to enjoy this.

"He's mine, mine alone."

There were a few shouts of protest, a number of scowls and a few looks of disbelief but she ignored them all. She was heading to the dungeons, play time was about to begin.

Harry thought all things considered... it could have been worse. The elder Malfoy had said that if they were the ones to hand over Harry Potter everything were to be forgiven, yet still Draco had hesitated. Draco was a real git, a stupid, bigoted ponce but he wasn't evil. Harry knew that know for sure, he couldn't kill Dumbledore and he couldn't hand over his most hated schoolmates to Voldemort. Bellatrix on the other hand... wasn't as soft of course. She had put Ron and Hermione in one room and him in a room much further away. At least Greyback had obeyed Bellatrix and not done anything else to them, the look on his face made it quite clear that he wanted to do many... things. Harry shuddered.

Voldemort himself had eventually come, entered the room, looked Harry right in the eye... and he knew. But that was hours ago now, why hadn't they done something? He'd expected torture or just a killing curse straight to the face. Something was holding Voldemort back.

Just as Harry was about to nod off, sitting there chained to a wall... footsteps were approaching. The door was opened rather slowly and in stepped Bellatrix Lestrange. Before Harry had a chance to say anything, she cast a quick silencio on him.

"Hush little Harry... I've only come to talk... and knowing your manners, you would only interrupt me." she started, finally reaching him and softly stroking his cheek. Harry pulled away instantly but she merely gave a little laugh.

"Such anger... such strength and pride... breaking you wouldn't be easy. Although I would enjoy it. Instead, I'm going to offer you a deal Harry Potter." Her back was now turned and he couldn't see her face.

What sort of deal? What was she playing at?

"I'm going to let your little friends go, in exchange for your cooperation. All you have to do is... stay for a while. Be our guest. Appreciate what we give to you, enjoy our... hospitality and no attempts of escaping in the next oh I don't know... say ten, eleven months? Let's just make it a full year. If you don't want to stay after that... you are free to go."

She turned around and her face was calm, almost friendly looking.

"Interested?"

Harry didn't know what to do, should he accept and then try to escape? All he needed was to get a hold of a wand...

"Take your time Harry but, Fenrir does get impatient and he knows he won't be punished too harshly if he has his way with the Mudblood, despite my orders."

She turned around to leave as Harry was thinking furiously of the extremely few options he had and the large amount of ways it could go wrong.

"I'll be back soon for my answer Harry, do make sure you have made up your mind by then."

She had him. She had him right where she wanted him, he was so predictable. The Sorting Hat should have put him in Hufflepuff, he was so loyal to his friends. A chance for them to escape the nightmarish fates Fenrir Greyback could inflict upon his victims... it was an offer he wouldn't be able to refuse. Now to collect the tool for his cooperation...

Daphne Greengrass sat in the window seat, overlooking the back gardens of Malfoy Manor with nothing but contempt.

They truly were foul people, Draco had always been a right git at school, lording his wealth and his fathers connections to the Minister and the Dark Lord... and apparently he hadn't been lying.

It had only been a week since Lucius Malfoy and a dozen other Death Eaters had broken into their home, tortured her parents a bit before taking her and Astoria away. There was apparently something her father could do for the Dark Lord, something he didn't want to do so Daphne and her sister were taken to ensure his cooperation.

Several of the Death Eaters had leered at her and Astoria when they arrived at Malfoy manor but they both held their heads high. Now however... it had been a week since she'd seen her sister and that oaf Crabbe had informed her with great glee that Greyback probably wouldn't be too interested in her, rather, Astoria was more his type.

Daphne shuddered. Apparently Crabbe still held a grudge for her declining to be his Yule Ball date.

Before Daphne had managed to call him several well deserved foul names, the door to her "room" was opened and Daphne couldn't help but gulp.

It was Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Hello darling, you are a pretty one aren't you? Just like your little sister, very fetching indeed."

As soon as that horrible Witch mentioned Astoria Daphne was off her seat, hands clenched and wishing for her wand with all her might... oh the curses she would use...

Bellatrix Lestrange merely gave a chilling giggle.

"Protective elder sister? I know the type, Cissy was always looking out for Andromeda and I... the things she did for us, I always admired her for it."

"What. Do. You. Want." Daphne managed to grind out.

"I want to help you... help yourself. And your sister."

Daphne knew she was being played but she didn't care, if there was a chance that they'd let Astoria go... whatever it was, she'd do it.

"I have a proposition for you my dear, you get the opportunity to save your sweet, innocent little sister and your beloved parents too..."

"I'll do it." She found herself saying out loud.

"Excellent, a special guest has arrived unexpectedly this evening and he needs to be taken care of. This will be your responsibility, you are to care for him, talk to him, become his friend,"

Daphne's disbelief reached an all-time high at this point, become his friend? Really?

Bellatrix Lestrange giggled again. Daphne felt a chill running up her spine.

"Truly, become his friend, his confidant, you will after all be spending a lot of time together, I'm moving you two out of your current, rather dreary accommodations to a more... suitable location."

Her expression changed, she was deadly serious all of a sudden and Daphne couldn't help but take a step back.

"Stay by his side as if he was your only friend, I suppose in many ways he will be, vow to do this for one year and in response you will have my vow that your sister Astoria will be let go and your parents will be released from their current... obligations and allowed to leave the country and never see or hear from any of us again. Do you understand me girl?"

"Yes." Daphne nodded. If it meant prostituting herself for this... guest... she'd do it. Having seen Greyback with her own eyes just this morning made sure she had no other option. She'd do anything before that beast went anywhere near her sister.

"But you'll vow that Astoria has and will remain completely untouched by all of you!"

"Deal."

And so Bellatrix summoned in another Death Eater Daphne didn't recognize and performed the unbreakable vow. Leaving Daphne to do the same in return.

She'd sworn to care for some horrid guest at Malfoy manor... she crossed her fingers hoping that it wasn't the Dark Lord himself.

But it didn't matter, she'd do it and she'd do it knowing that she'd saved her sister and her parents. Whatever they could throw at her, she'd handle it knowing that they were safe.

A minute or two after this rather shocking new development after a very dull week of pacing about her room and reading all of the books that had been in the small bookcase, Daphne was about to collapse back onto her bed when the door opened once more. For a second she thought it would be the guest coming to enjoy his hospitality but when the long blonde hair of Astoria swept into view, she burst out in tears.

"Daphne!"

"Astoria! You're alright, you're okay!" She cried, hugging her sister tighter then ever before.

Her sister was babbling and rambling, she hardly understood half of what she said but caught a few snippets here and there until -

"Draco said he was going to enjoy me first and,"

"I'll kill him." Daphne responded.

"I'll kill that little bitch! She roared, finally letting her sister go and jumping towards the door, wrenching the handle as hard as possible then banging the door as hard as she could with her fists.

"DO YOU HEAR ME DRACO? I'LL KILL YOU!" She screamed before loosing all her energy and collapsing against the door.

"Daph... I'm okay, they didn't, they haven't... nobody touched me okay? They said I get to go home now to mum and dad..."

Daphne couldn't help it but for the first time in a week, she smiled.

"Look at me, I'm a mess.." She tried to dry her eyes before going back over to her sister who was now sitting on the bed.

"But.. we get to go home now? They said so." Astoria started, looking questioningly at her older sister.

"You get to go home yes, I've made a deal with them, I'm going to stay - "

"NO! No you can't stay Daph!"

"Shh, listen to me, this is very important, you're going to go home to mum and dad, and then you're going to tell them to get as far away from Britain as possible, you understand me Astoria Penelope Greengrass?"

Using her full name was something only their mum would do when something was very important or she'd done something wrong. It seemed to work even when Daphne did it.

Astoria finally nodded.

"Good girl, I'm going to stay here for a year to look after a guest here at Malfoy manor... then I get to go home too so its not that bad! A year goes by so fast, I promise you that by the time a year is gone you'll be all surprised to see me because it will have gone so fast."

Astoria was crying and Daphne couldn't help but cry as well as they hugged once more.

A minute later the Death Eater that had been there for the Unbreakable Vows came into the room.

"Its time for you to go home, Astoria."

Daphne hugged her sister fiercely once more before kissing the top of her head.

"Remember what I said, tell mum and dad to go as far away as possible, and I'll come find you all in a year."

Astoria nodded.

"I love you Daph."

"I love you too grasshopper." Astoria stuck her tongue out at her, she still hated that old nickname.

She followed the Death Eater and Astoria to the door, it closed with her on one side and Astoria on the other and she couldn't help but feel very lost. There was now a barrier between her and her sister, a barrier that would take a year before she could smash it into a million pieces...

She'd lost track of time, it could have been one or two hours for all she knew; but Bellatrix was back.

"A very touching goodbye, I'm glad to see you love your sister so much."

Was she mocking her? Daphne's fists clenched once more.

"Anyway, the arrangements have been completed, you'll be staying out in the old servants quarters from now on, next to the stables."

"The rest of your clothes and belongings have been placed there but I thought you could wear this tonight, I'm sure you'll look very pretty in it."

Bellatrix held up one of Daphne's more formal dresses that she'd normally wear whenever her dad had ministry officials over for a party.

"Now, take your time and get ready but at six pm you will be in this dress and then drink this potion here and the one the house elf will give you later, is that understood? McNair here," Bellatrix indicated to the Death Eater who was standing guard outside her door.

"Will notify me if you don't."

Daphne simply nodded, she didn't trust her mouth to say something she'd probably end up regretting.

It was now six pm and Daphne had spent the last hour and a half getting herself ready for the "guest". A nice long hot shower, washed her hair, hair removal potion in all the usual places... add a bit of lip gloss, fix her nails up... and she was done with a few minutes to spare.

The potion stood there on her dresser still. She glanced towards the door and saw McNair leering at her.

Right. Best get this over with Daphne thought to herself.

She picked it up, it was a strange, cloudy sort of grey potion. She shook the phial slightly before opening the cork and giving McNair a salute before downing it all in one go.

Surprisingly it tasted rather bland, an unusual quality for a potion and it certainly didn't look like anything she'd seen before. Whatever it was... she truly hoped it didn't work.

The clock chimed 6 times and McNair opened the door.

"Time to go luv" He grunted.

She followed him, rather curiously. She hadn't seen much of the manor after all, she'd been blindfolded and silenced when they brought her in. All she knew was the room and its en-suite plus the vast back gardens it overlooked.

Before she knew it they were outside, crossing the courtyard and then through the back gardens, along a little lane that led to the stables and had what she guessed was the old coachman's quarters annexed to it. It was a fairly simple looking brick building, it looked a bit newer then the Manor it served and while it certainly was in-keeping with the style of the manor there was a sense that it hadn't been very well treated.

Daphne hoped that she'd get her wand back because if this was to be her home for a year... she sighed.

"Right, be a good girl now luv." McNair chuckled, giving her a slap on her bum before walking back to the Manor.

A house-elf popped up right in front of her as soon as he was out of sight.

"If you please misses, you must be drinking your potion now." the little thing said, holding up a phial filled to the brim with a vibrant red potion that seemed to be still bubbling from the cauldron it had been brewed.

Daphne was severely tempted to just throw it to the ground and hop on it like a madwoman but knew that would mean loosing her Magic, or her life. It was the same thing really in the end.

As with the potion earlier, she grabbed it and could feel that it was in fact still warm, before downing it all in one go then opening her mouth and going aaaaaaaaaaaaa at the little elf to prove that she'd swallowed the whole thing.

It popped away for a second then returned with a large tray of what she assumed was food under the cover.

"Your key misses!"

Daphne grabbed the key, unlocked the door and was about to enter the cottage but found that the little elf was in her way, shoving that big tray in her face.

"You's is bringing the food for the guest misses, he's not eaten for a long time! You's sit down and eat with him please misses!"

"Okay okay, whatever." Daphne said irritably before grabbing the tray and entering her new home.

"He's being asleeps upstairs misses, the potion to wake him is on the nightstand!" The little elf piped before popping away.

Daphne found the moderately sized kitchen almost directly off the hall to the left with a breakfast table where she offloaded the rather large and heavy tray.

It wasn't that bad looking, a bit old but certainly not as unkempt as she first thought it would be. She explored the rest of the downstairs, there was a smallish downstairs loo and a rather large dining room with an even larger sitting room where a big fire was already burning happily.

If this was a holiday cottage somewhere on the coast I think I'd be quite comfortable Daphne thought to herself before finally braving the stairs.

Whoever the guest was, he was going to be in one of these 3 rooms. She opened the first door to her right, finding a rather large bathroom that looked very new except the old roll-top bath in the corner by the window.

The next door on the right was a small old nursing room that wasn't new at all, in fact everything in it seemed at least ten or fifteen years old. A few broken toys, small puzzles and several old children's books filled a bookshelf but other than the crib, the big chest and the massive carpet the room was quite sparse.

Which only left the master bedroom.

"Best get this over with Daph." She said to herself, using her sisters way of saying her name to draw some courage. She was doing this for her after all.

The door creaked slightly as she opened it but as the sleeper was in a magically induced sleep she didn't have to worry about it. Not that it crossed Daphne's mind at the time, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the noise.

It was a very nice and warm looking room, a small loveseat under the big windows, the well-sized fireplace was lit and casting its warm light on the absolutely massive four poster bed that dominated the room. And in that bed lay a comparatively small figure with messy jet-black hair.

Daphne's heart skipped a beat.

No way.

Harry Potter? It had to be him, she'd recognize that unruly mop of hair anywhere. Not that she had a crush on him or anything but, he had become quite fanciable lately... especially if you listened to Tracey's opinion.

"The most gorgeous guy in all of Hogwarts, and bless, look at him Daphne, he doesn't even know it!"

Daphne couldn't help but smile as she thought back of that particular outburst from Tracey, who'd been crushing on him on and off since the Yule Ball in 4th year.

So this was their special guest that had arrived unexpectedly? More likely kidnapped like myself Daphne thought.

And she was going to care for him, be responsible for him... probably have to heal him after they tortured him... but she didn't know anything about healing! She could fix a nosebleed and a scraped knee perhaps but that was about it.

She panicked for a few seconds before taking a few deep breaths and stepped a bit closer to Harry. He looked quite serene, sleeping there like he had not a trouble in the world... probably Dreamless Sleep potion.

With no idea on how she was going to explain all this to Harry, she grabbed the potion on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry Harry but, I have to do this."

She opened the phial and poured it down his mouth, making sure he swallowed it all.

It only took ten seconds or so before he was stirring and becoming more and more agitated. All of a sudden he sat up, giving Daphne a right fright and screamed "Ron! Hermione!" before realizing he was in a completely different room.

Daphne saw him look round the room frantically before finally setting his eyes upon her. She'd never seen his eyes this close before and they were the most brilliant, almost electric green. And at the moment they were both beautiful and scary, very scary.

"YOU!" He bellowed, his hands started searching for his wand but came up empty, he lunged after her but she managed to jump off the bed just in time.

"Harry wait!" She managed to scream, for some reason fearing for her life, she had to make him understand that she wasn't responsible for this mess!

"I was kidnapped too" Was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

He seemed to calm down and stop to think for a second. She followed his eyes as he checked his clothes for his wand then out the window.

"So we're still at Malfoy's I take it?" He grunted, getting off the bed and heading for the door.

"Yes, I've been here for a week and,"

He turned round instantly so she nearly bumped into him.

"Have you seen Ron or Hermione?" He asked, his eyes practically digging into her skull, as if it they could seek the answer out themselves.

"No... I haven't seen anyone. Except my sister. And Bellatrix Lestrange."

"That bitch!" Harry roared, stomping off towards the stairs, practically flying down them. She tried to keep up but he was already at the door, yanking and pulling on the handle without success.

"I think... we're trapped here." Daphne finally said after Harry had barged into the door, kicked it, stormed into the kitchen grabbed a chair and smashed it to pieces against the apparently unbreakable windows.

He was panting heavily from the effort, he looked very pale.

"Harry, please calm down, when was the last time you ate or drank anything?" She asked him, genuinely concerned. They were in this together now.

"I... I don't know." He said as he slumped down against the door, chucking a leg from the smashed chair away.

"You're sure you haven't seen Ron or Hermione?"

"Yes, like I said, I've only seen my sister and Bellatrix Lestrange. Oh and some horrid man called McNair."

Harry looked up at her.

"Your sister... is she... is she okay?"

Daphne nodded.

"Come into the kitchen, a house-elf brought food earlier." She held out her hand to help him up. He reluctantly let her, surprising her with how strong his grip was.

They sat down at the table after finding cutlery, glasses and a plate each. Daphne lifted the cover off and the sweet smell of a freshly cooked chicken that had been expertly carved assaulted their senses. There were two small salads, vinaigrette, a bowl of mashed potatoes, gravy, a carafe full of elf-wine and one with water.

"I really hope this isn't poisoned." Harry joked.

They both laughed a bit nervously before digging in. Daphne hadn't realized until now that she hadn't eaten since breakfast and was pretty hungry.

Once they both had finished eating, an uncomfortable silence set upon them.

"So... Harry." Daphne started before coming up short, she simply didn't know what to say. What was there to say?

"So... Daphne. It is Daphne right?" Harry asked rather nervously, for the first time that evening he seemed completely out of his comfort zone.

"Yes. It is. Pleased to meet you." They shook hands.

"I wish it had been under better circumstances - " Harry started and Daphne quickly agreed.

"Me too!"

_Ooops. That was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic wasn't it Daph?_

"Err, right... so do you know where they're keeping your sister? As soon as we can get out of this house we'll find her and get the hell - "

While the sentiment was sweet she had to interrupt him.

"She's already left. I... I made a deal with them. With Bellatrix. To save her."

She took one glance at Harry's rather surprised face before looking away. How was she supposed to ever look him in the eye again if he knew what sort of deal it was?

"I did too." Harry said quietly.

"You did?"

"Yeah, the deal was that I'd stay as their "guest" for a year without trying to escape and in return they'd let my friends go. Ron and Hermione."

"What was your deal?" Harry asked and Daphne found it really hard to look at him.

"My deal was that I was going to stay here with a guest, and look after him for a year... and in return they would let Astoria go and release my father from whatever task they were trying to force him to do."

Daphne looked up and saw a small smile on Harry's face and finally it all came to an end and she completely broke down.

He was out of his chair and next to her in a second, he hugged her, somehow getting her out of the chair and steering her into the sitting room, placing her in the sofa infront of the fire. There she told him about all the worry over Astoria, the things Crabbe and Draco had said, that she thought she was going to have to whore herself out to the Dark Lord... and after all that it was a good few minutes of crying into his chest while he rubbed her back rather awkwardly and ran his fingers through her long dark hair before she calmed down.

She gave a final sniff or two before muttering - "I'm a complete mess." into his chest.

"Don't worry about it, you've had a rough week, we both have." Harry said calmly.

"Yes but I'm here bawling my eyes out and you're completely in control... I'm usually not this emotionally unstable, I promise!"

Harry chuckled and said something about girls always being emotionally unstable.

She laughed and had to give him a little slap on the chest for insulting all her fellow sisters. They were girls, they had a right to be emotionally unstable every now and then she informed him.

He chuckled and she couldn't help but sighing a little to herself, this felt nice... half-lying onto Harry's chest, curled up and all snugly in front of a nice warm fire...

"It was very brave of you, making that deal to save your sister and parents, not knowing whoever the guest was and what.. duties you'd be made to perform." Harry said after a few moments of silence.

She looked up at him just as he looked down to her and she instantly knew what was about to happen next. Their lips practically crashed against each other the next second and they were snogging up a storm as she somehow managed to get herself up and seated in his lap instead, grinding herself against him and getting an appreciative groan in response.

Finally they broke apart and Daphne looked at her partner in crime, Harry Potter. The most fanciable guy in all of Hogwarts, panting slightly, glasses askew, hair messier then ever after her hands had run through it numerous times...

She'd never experienced anything so hot before that moment.

"That... that was," Harry started.

"Brilliant." Daphne finished for him.

"Yes."

She wasn't sure who said that, or who said "Let's go upstairs". All she remembered was that she was in Harry Potters arms and she wasn't about to let him go.

AN: Well that's it for chapter one. I hope you liked it and that you'll leave a review if you do, or if you don't. Mindless flames however are something I can live without ;)


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